Quote of the week:

"Art is unthinkable without risk and self-sacrifice."

Boris Pasternak

Jeffrey S. Rosenthal, born on Friday the Thirteenth, examines luck in his entertaining book Knock on Wood.As Professor of Statistics at the University of Toronto specializing in probability, he considers himself a lucky guy, but he doesn’t believe in luck.He believes in randomness.

And yet…he wittily and respectfully analyzes life through the lens of superstition, coincidence, lotteries, lucky feet, astrology, and religion, to the delight of readers, even the math phobic. You may not believe in luck either, even as you “knock on wood” to keep evil spirits at bay, but you too will feel lucky after reading this book.Knock On Wood is published in Canada by HarperCollins.

Power, Prime Ministers, And the Press: The Search For Truth on Parliament Hill.

Robert Lewis spent 12 years as a member of the Ottawa press gallery covering news on Parliament Hill, and seven years as Maclean's editor-in-chief. He's now written a history of the past 150 years of relationships between Prime Ministers and the press. it is important, irreverent, and surprising.

Bob Rae, former Premier of Ontario and former leader of the federal Liberals, cited it as a "remarkable celebration of our country and the value of a free and outspoken press."

When Bob Lewis started researching the book four years ago, he had no idea it would land when society is worrying about fake news. Lewis discovered there was much more "fake" and managed news in the early days than there is today.

Philomena meets Orphan Train

Set during the Duplessis era, The Home For Unwanted Girls tells the interwoven tales of a mother and daughter separated in 1950s Quebec. Maggie was a teen when she was coerced into giving up her infant child Elodie in 1949. For years, Maggie hunted for the daughter she lost as Elodie searched for the mother she never had. Rooted in true events, Goodman weaves a gripping tale of abuse, family, and tradition set against the sweeping backdrop of tense Anglo-French relations in Quebec.

Joanna Goodman's heart-wrenching novel The Home For Unwanted Girls is available to French and English readers in Canada and the US. The English edition is published by HarperCollins, and the North American French edition is published by Saint-Jean Quebec for April 2018.